Petr Cech: I could have signed for Arsenal 13 years ago, but I didn't really miss much

Petr Cech has said that he 'didn’t really miss much' before he signed for Arsenal, 13 years after he missed his first opportunity to turn out for the club.

Problems with the goalkeeper’s work permit in 2002 meant Arsene Wenger had to pull out of the signing of the then Sparta Prague player, with Cech ending up at Rennes and then London rivals Chelsea.

At Stamford Bridge Cech won every major club honour available to him, including four Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League trophy. And Arsenal’s new signing is eager to take that winning mentality across the capital.

Though he professed himself to be delighted to be joining the Gunners the 33-year-old did tell the club website: "I didn't really miss much but all I've managed to achieve in the past decade, if I can replicate here will be brilliant."

As a youngster Cech had been heavily scouted by Wenger but the club’s inability to acquire a work permit for the young prospect derailed his hopes of heading to north London.

“There was a chance before I went to France that I could sign for Arsenal but I was only 18 or 19 and at that time Czech Republic were not in the European Union,” the new signing said.

"You needed a work permit and the conditions were to play 75 per cent of the first-team games for the national team, which at the time was impossible for me to get. In the end I went to France because I couldn't get a work permit.

"I had a few teams who were interested but Arsenal was one of the main ones. I was so excited because of the Premier League and big clubs but unfortunately it was not the time for me to come.

"It was later with Chelsea, and I'm obviously grateful for that, but you can never prepare the ways in your life and you'll never know where you'll end up. So here we are.”